Those Christians envisioned a world free from sickness, death, war, hunger and every other hurting process. This would all happen because of the relationship with Jesus in faith.
This was, of course, a relatively safe message to spread about. Even the Roman government wanted these guarantees for the world. Certainly the early Christians were not trying to pick a fight with the government. So this vision was spread and adopted rather easily.
The great value of this process was in giving the entire community a common vision. The community was and is spared the division of the community into factions wanting many different pieces of Utopia.
Now the vision question for economic development support by the Church in our communities arises again. Do we have a common vision in our community that we can all support and work toward? We need not have the same personal tastes. We do need to have a common vision of the best that we can be together.
What is the status of the vision in your community? Is there a common vision? Can you define it? Is it written some place? Can small children picture it?
Clearly it is the responsibility of the congregation(s) of Christ to lead the community to lay it out and lead the community forward that vision.
Karl Evans
Yachats Blue Link
